Climate Corner: Why not West Virginia? A comparison

Jun 21, 2025

Griffin Bradley

editorial@newsandsentinel.com

As a lifelong West Virginian, I have a soft spot for seeing my state succeed. With all of its grit, tenacity and work ethic, there’s no reason that West Virginia shouldn’t be a national leader in many respects. But yet, we see our state struggle to keep up as new opportunities arise, trading in progress for the same old, worn out tagline. We all know the jingle. “Coal is West Virginia,” right?

Over the last four years, America has been at an important moment for innovation and expansion of the clean energy economy. For all its supposed faults, the Inflation Reduction Act produced thousands of jobs, billions of dollars of economic value, and spurred industrial innovations at a rate rarely seen since the Industrial Revolution. But for those of us who call the Mountain State home, we have not reaped much of those benefits. Rather, we’ve seen business after business make their home in other states. States that, frankly, share many characteristics with West Virginia.

So then what gives? Despite the opportunities, West Virginia flounders. In order to get a better understanding of exactly why West Virginia fails to meet the moment, let’s compare to a similar state. Join me as we take a quick trip down I-77 to the Tar Heel State of North Carolina. A state that, by comparison, should be in the same category of success as West Virginia. Nestled in the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains, both states have strong blue-collar roots and a favorable cost-of-living, yet one outdoes the other by leaps and bounds. Why?

Let’s break it down a bit further.

North Carolina has been named in the top 2 of CNBC’s annual “Best States For Business” reports for the last four years, continually trading the #1 and #2 spot with another of West Virginia’s neighbors, Virginia. North Carolina’s spot as a top state for business development is due in no small part to its early support for clean energy growth. Not only does North Carolina benefit from its nearly 110,000-strong clean energy workforce, but it also sees new businesses that manufacture clean energy technologies pouring into the state on what feels like a monthly basis. Not to mention the traditional businesses that have increased their existing footprint in the state due to their supportive clean energy environment.

On the policymaking side, we see more divisions between West Virginia and North Carolina. Much like West Virginia, North Carolina’s legislature hosts a (near) veto-proof Republican majority. The only difference between the two is the latter’s executive branch has been controlled by a Democrat in recent years, with former Gov. Roy Cooper and current Gov. Josh Stein. Despite the many ideological differences of North Carolina’s legislative and executive branches, the legislature and governor(s) have come together in many instances to support policy that creates a conducive environment for the clean energy economy to flourish. As such, North Carolina has been a leader in nearly every sense of the word.

Now, back in West Virginia, we can better outline where we have failed. In terms of clean energy jobs, well, it’s safe to say we are dwarfed by much of the United States with only around 10,000 dedicated jobs. This is all while the supposed backbone of our economy and culture, old “King Coal,” continues to see dwindling jobs numbers and overall economic value amid a volatile international coal market.

Despite the writing being on the wall for most forward-thinking, commonsense folks, we see little policy coming out of Charleston that would suggest West Virginia is headed toward an economic renaissance anytime soon. And to be fair, why would we? In a state where there are presumably more janitors wandering the halls of the Capitol than elected Democrats and a super-duper Republican majority that has long looked at the prospects of the coal industry through rose colored glasses, it’s no surprise that West Virginia hasn’t seen the same success as our neighbors when it comes to the national clean energy boom.

Now more than ever, West Virginians should be angry. Angry that we aren’t a national trendsetter. Angry that our leaders didn’t grasp the enormous opportunity that is now in the rearview mirror. Angry that we are being left in the dust by very comparable states. If economic mediocrity and complacency from leadership is what you want, look no further. As for me, I find inspiration in our neighbors’ successes. I wish those in Charleston did, too.

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Griffin Bradley is a lifelong Wood County resident, graduate of West Virginia University, and a contributing author for Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.